Page 11 of The Kraken Bride

He studied me. “I appreciate your honesty, and I give you my word. The dragons in Ashmorra will be in no danger by what you learn today.”

Okay then. “Ja. Based on your assurance, I swear to tell no one.” If he’d lied, all bets were off.

His study of me only intensified, as if he were trying to work out a puzzle.

Finally, he reached out, captured his wine glass and sipped, as if bracing for what was to come. “Jokull, the kraken primordial, has returned. He likes to send corpses instead of flowers.”

My back stiffened, and my hand flew to my neck. Was that what had been inside the crate? Corpses? “That’s not good.” The dragon primordial—my father—had returned as well, and he’d wreaked nothing but havoc.

“There have been… problems.”

“I can imagine.” There was one primordial per faction, and each had begun as a human, then transformed into the first berserker of their kind, powerful in a way the berserkers who’d come after them were not.

“For centuries, Jokull was imprisoned beneath a mountain, held captive by a vengeful goddess,” Sebastian continued. “The turul king and queen defeated the goddess and returned the primordials to their homelands, chained. But those chains did not hold for us.”

“We experienced the same problem.” Olyssa had nearly died trying to contain our father.

“I’m unsure of what was done to Jokull during captivity, but his power is now augmented,” Sebastian said. “Enhanced in ways I never expected. He has designs on my throne, and he’s willing to wipe out krakenkind to get it.”

The table shuddered for seemingly no reason, and the floor lurched beneath my feet. Neither stopped.

“What’s happening?” I cried. An earthquake? My gaze flew to the window. To the water shaking violently beyond the dome. My wine glass tipped over and something cracked above my head.

Sebastian came out of his chair, dark arms shooting from him like bullets, slicing the table in two while he yanked me out of my seat. A second later, a crystal chandelier dropped right where I’d been, glass shattering in every direction.

I pressed myself closer to him. “You saved me,” I rasped. Maybe not from death—I was immortal—but definitely from pain. I looked up at him through the fan of my lashes, truly grateful. “Thank you.”

A muscle twitched along his jaw. “You should not have been in danger in the first place.”

Was this Jokull’s doing?

“Majesty.” The mountain of a man I’d seen standing at his side while cataloguing the insides of that crate burst through the doors without announcement, dripping, face flushed dark with adrenaline.

Without letting me go, Sebastian turned his head toward the soldier. “Tell me.”

“The northern settlement,” Mountain Man said. “Tide-marker four.”

“Survivors?”

“We don’t know yet.” The soldier’s throat worked. “The wave came from beneath, and the waters are still receding.”

Compassion swam through me. I didn’t know the geography of this realm, or why tide-marker four mattered, but I knew the look on Sebastian’s face, and it wasn’t that of a king annoyed by a minor border skirmish.

“Send in my elite.” Fury churned in his eyes. “I’ll be there shortly.”

The guard fled, racing into the hall.

Sebastian inhaled, exhaled, then faced me. “I regret that we must cut our dinner short.” He released me at last, one arm at a time, and eased back. “I’d like you to accompany me and see what Jokull has wrought. Know that this is not an order but a request. Say nei if that’s your wish.”

His leniency surprised me. I thought about the crashing chandelier. The violent quaking. The guard’s upset. The danger. Then I pictured the families that might be hurting. Returning to my room wasn’t an option. Not because of my mission. Not to prove anything. Just to help.

“I say ja,” I said, my voice soft.

His eyelids immediately slitted, as if he’d wanted a different answer. But that couldn’t be right.

He took my hand, linking our fingers. “We won’t stay long, but you must remain at my side every second. The dome’s stability isn’t guaranteed near a breach point, but I will personally oversee your safety.”

From everything I’d heard about his battle prowess, I had no doubt he made an excellent bodyguard.